Figure 2

Sepsis caused structural and ultrastructural changes in the renal corpuscles. Representative image of light and transmission electron microscopic image of cortical renal corpuscle in sham-operated (A, A1, D, F, H) and septic rats (B, C, B1, C1, E, G, I). In septic rats some renal corpuscles had a wrinkled appearance and were much smaller (panel B, arrows); this phenomenon was more evident at 7 hours after CLP (panel C, arrows). Altered renal corpuscles of CLP rats, when compared with healthy ones (panel A1), showed enlargement of the filtration chamber and mesangial expansion with increased matrix deposition (panels B1 and C1, asterisks) and distorted capillaries (panels B1 and C1, arrowheads). At an ultrastructural level, podocytes had a normal appearance and well-developed foot processes in sham-operated rats (panel D) and the basement membrane appeared homogeneous (panel F). In contrast, sepsis caused ultrastructural modifications in the basement barrier of wrinkled corpuscles, which appeared thinner and showed focal loss of matrix components (panels E and G, asterisks). In the same corpuscles, podocytes appeared severely damaged with loss of foot processes. In sham-operated rats the endothelial glycocalyx appeared mostly intact and homogeneous (panel H), whereas in septic rats it was severely disrupted (panel I). CLP, cecal ligation and puncture.